1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to security systems, and more particularly, to an improved and simplified process and device for use with a personal computer to provide security and surveillance capabilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Burglaries and vandalism of homes and offices is a widespread problem. To protect against such occurrences, many types of security systems are known to safeguard persons and property. These systems tend to be expensive and complex, and/or hard to install and use. Such systems include those that are built into or added to a home or vehicle, or those which are separate, but tied into a central monitoring station. Other systems such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,460 to Hewit et al, utilize a bi-directional interface for coupling remote security transducers and monitoring devices to a computer, such that the circuitry of the bi-directional electronic interface has multiple functions, including the scanning of data in the signals from the bi-directional interface by the computer. This device tends to be expensive to implement and use, and does not provide surveillance capabilities.
Other problems exist with known security and surveillance systems, such as the need for specialized equipment and/or personnel to adequately install and use them. Additionally, although various solutions have been proposed to overcome the shortcomings of known security and surveillance systems, these solutions still tend to be expensive and hard to implement. One solution is to provide a central monitoring station with coded information, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,886 to Rodriguez. However, a disadvantage of this system is that it is complicated to use and expensive to acquire. A further disadvantage of this system is that it is not designed to automatically record events, or advise an owner of a security problem.
Additionally, when security and surveillance systems are used, long term (2 or 3 year) monitoring contracts present a further problem. These systems rely on a monitoring company to monitor the systems and to contact the police if the system is triggered. This results in delays, and raises another big problem, that of false alarms. False alarms are such a drain on police resources that many states have enacted laws regarding them. Stiff fines apply for each false alarm, and in many states police will cease to respond if a user has over a certain number of false Alarms in a given period.
Finally, the known devices are not easily controlled by the user, other than by working with a central monitoring station, or shutting the system off entirely, thereby defeating the purpose of having the system.
There, therefore, still exist a need for a system which is easily and quickly connected to available or emerging personal computer systems, to add security and surveillance capabilities to the personal computer system. The security system of the present invention is connected to the serial port of a personal computer system, but does not use the data pins therein.
The present invention provides a security system which together with unique software installed in the personal computer being used, includes selected point-of entry sensors and motion detector devices which transmit signals to a radio frequency receiver connected to the serial port of the personal computer. The novel radio frequency device transmits no data through the data pins of the serial port to the software, but instead send a simple signal to the non data pins to operate the system through the unique software. This provides for simplicity in operation, while substantially reducing the cost of the equipment and increasing its reliability.